Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 22
Solar Rays, Planetary Nourishment, Dhruva-Bondage of the Grahas, and the Lunar Cycle
सप्तभिस्तपते मित्रस्त्वष्टा चैवाष्टभिस्तपेत् / अर्यमा दशभैः पाति पर्जन्यो नवभिस्तपेत् / षड्भी रश्मिसहस्त्रैस्तु विष्णुस्तपति विश्वसृक्
saptabhistapate mitrastvaṣṭā caivāṣṭabhistapet / aryamā daśabhaiḥ pāti parjanyo navabhistapet / ṣaḍbhī raśmisahastraistu viṣṇustapati viśvasṛk
Mitra bersinar dengan tujuh (kelompok sinar); Tvaṣṭṛ sungguh bersinar dengan delapan. Aryaman melindungi dengan sepuluh; Parjanya menyala dengan sembilan. Namun Viṣṇu, Sang Pencipta jagat, memanasi dan menerangi dengan enam ribu sinar.
Sūta (narrator) recounting Purāṇic teaching on the Sun’s divine forms (Ādityas) and their rays
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: shanta
FAQs
By presenting many solar deities yet culminating in Viṣṇu as the world-producing power, the verse points to a single supreme principle manifesting as multiple functions—unity behind apparent multiplicity, a common Purāṇic bridge toward understanding the Self as one reality expressed through many powers.
No explicit technique is prescribed, but the verse supports a contemplative practice (dhyāna) of the Sun’s powers as ordered manifestations of Īśvara—useful for ekāgratā (one-pointedness) and for integrating devotion (bhakti) with cosmological knowledge (jñāna) in the Kurma Purana’s broader spiritual program.
Even in a Vaishnava-identifying climax (Viṣṇu as viśva-sṛk), the teaching remains Purāṇically synthetic: divine functions are distributed among many names and powers, a framework the Kurma Purana often uses to harmonize sectarian forms—Śiva and Viṣṇu—within one Īśvara-centered reality.